Gomess of Ikana
by Nitro-Needle
Summary: In the land of Termina, there is a country unspoken of. A dead country lying in the ruins of its past magnificence and shattered splendor. Though the empire has long since fallen, one individual of it remains: Gomess. This is his story and Ikana's story.
1. Chapter 1: My Name is Gomess

It has been so long since Ikana fell. The kingdom I strove to uphold. The kingdom my forefathers strove to destroy.

I was raised by one of it's middle-ranked noble families. While many among the household looked down upon the people as below them, and the estate as a wasteland. I grew to love the land as my home, the people, as my family-regardless of class.

My relationship with the people, and my patriotism to the country did not go unnoticed. I was appointed to be an adviser to the king, a duty I carried out with pride and honor.

Due to past circumstances that even the King himself regrets now, I've been branded a traitor. One that cannot be pardoned or absolved with a simple apology, or clearance from a priest.

"Until this demon vanquishes another that enters Ikana, he shall remain one! Burdened and twisted as a monster of the night-a vampire!"

Due to my curse, I've been confined to my country. And from Stone Tower, I've watched my country eaten away by the years of war &amp; drought. I've seen new countries rise on it's borders, shunning our lost land as haunted.

Now Ikana is a land of dust &amp; death. The fields, once deep green, now barren &amp; fractured. The soldiers, once proud and strong, but rags and bones.

The kingdom has died, but still I'm here.

My name is Gomess.

And I just want do die with my country.


	2. Chapter 2: The Story of Stone Tower

Stone Tower. Truly a wonder of the world. In all of these bloody wars, and bitter winds, it has still stood. The king was right in saying that it was an impenetrable stronghold. After all, the bridge to the heavenly moon should be sturdy, should it not? And it certainly would be, since the gods gave it to us, would it not?

It was a remarkable feat to climb it in the old days. Pilgrims climbed its steps to reach the temple atop. Some said they did to pray to the gods high above, others claimed they were practicing their afterlife journey to the moon, and some hoped to see the souls of loved ones. Some priests drew holy water from the great well at the bottom.

The moon commands much. The tides of the seas, of dreams, and even of souls. When we died, or bodies returned to the earth, while our souls climbed the tower, and waited for the moon to pass over, for the red-eyed angels to receive them. When that moon returns, so do the souls, ready for new life. When the holy month was over, Stone Tower was sealed with a spell that could only be lifted by a select few, mainly the royal family.

Then all of that changed. One year, on the month opposite of the holy one, someone opened it, and something unholy was let in. The two that were one entered it, and with them came the many beasts that you find there today. In a single night, the once sacred tower became one of the greatest blasphemies in history.

The gods punished us by flipping the tower, and whenever their light struck its red eye emblems, it would flip again. Many tried to climb it to pray and plead for forgiveness, some bearing sacrifice, but they never made it to the doorway of the temple. The well that once blessed them was nothing more than a great dry abyss.

The royal family was desperate and outraged. They ordered interrogations, purges, and sacrifices to appeal to the gods. Many high ranking nobles suspected of treason were executed. The once proud empire of Ikana began to splinter.

I remember those days, when it was a place of peace, not war. I remember being welcomed there, in spite of being foreign born. But, that was ages ago. An age when the earth was black, the grass grew tall, and Ikana was still a valley. A bygone age...

Stone Tower still stands, and the ceremony of the moon remains, but now no one alive knows why. Now Stone Tower is seen as our past method of mocking the gods we worshiped, and the ceremony of the moon celebrated is nothing more than a harvest holiday.


	3. Chapter 3: The Fall of Ikana

No, I'm not going to tell you _everything_ that led to the end of the Empire in one night. I haven't the strength for it. However I can tell you of the last beats of its heart. Fittingly enough it ended in with a war, with the Garo no less.

The war with them had been a brief, but nonetheless agonizing one. And the fact that they were once our allies gave no consolidation to this. While we were gradually losing ground, Ikana was falling apart from the inside, with and without their help. At the time, I had long since been cursed and confined to Stone Tower. And after he had lost his sons, the king had lost trust in everyone around him, even Skull Keeta. He had been holding him back when he should have mobilized to save our allies, and sent him out on semi-suicide missions. These tactical missteps out of spite and anger continued up until the siege of Ikana itself... Oh that night...

It was a catastrophic battle. The largest Termina has ever seen. The bodies were... truly countless. Some were piled in mountains, some fell into the river, and many more still lay strewn across the field. Little rubble was left of the city, burned away in siege fire. Even the earth was scarred, sewn with poison salt so that nothing would grow, and the western canyon cliff was blasted off, burying much of the river.

Following the demise of the last of the nobles, Stone Tower opened. Not one second after it did, did a third army of monsters pour out. They swept down upon the battle like a colossal storm, slaughtering all that still lived. Ikana and Garo alike were wiped out, leaving the battle in a cruel stalemate. Magic of the two that were one seeped out after the monsters had returned to the fortress, cursing the souls of the fallen.

Even after the last drop of blood had stained the earth, even after the last living creature was no more, the ghosts of the warriors continued to fight. They payed no mind to how they were already dead. To them, the siege was still going on. They still fired arrows long after their quivers were empty, they still swung their swords long after they had rusted and broken and their shields had shattered, they still... they still drank from the river after it had become a vein full of venom by the salts, limestone, and bleeding bodies in it...and so did I.

I don't altogether remember if it was to quench my thirst that had plagued me since I was locked in Stone Tower, or to satisfy this painful hunger for blood that I had since I was cursed, or to inebriate me from what I was seeing, or in some vain hope that it would actually kill me... I wondered if I should envy the others, dead but deprived of rest; or I was the lucky one, a broken mass of bones and fiber but still alive. I searched all of Ikana for an answer, but found none. And I came to the conclusion that there was little difference.

...And so... that was the final defiling strike that left Ikana in the state it is.


	4. Chapter 4: Captain Skull Keeta

Well, is that what I think it is? A captain's hat? Certainly haven't seen one of those in a long time. Wait, let me have a closer look... Heh... That one's his, alright. Still has that notch on the left side. I can tell you quite a bit about this.

The Captain's Hat isn't just some commander's crown, mind you. It's like a coat of arms for a leader. Containing an aspect of himself, his tribe, his loyalty to the empire. There was one for each state of the empire. This particular one belonged to the one you know as 'Skull Keeta.' A strong warrior, a leader of immense respect, and a good friend.

Keeta was more than the captain of this state, he was Igos's right hand and closest friend. As he told me, he had known him since they were children. From that he became the his most trusted aspect, even sometimes serving as an adviser. In fact, I learned most everything I know about statecraft from him when when he took me in. I could tell you quite a bit about that, but that look on your face tells me you're not really the politically inclined type.

He was a man of great character. Wise, brave, and just the right amount of humor.

There is a reason that his army remained so loyal to him, even in death. Keeta wasn't just a general or a leader, he was something of a father figure to his men. He sometimes even referred to his men as his "sons." Indeed he was strict, but he was also caring. His methods were to win wars with as little blood spilled as possible. He said there was only one soldier he ever "disowned" and... that may have been the start of how... *sigh*

...At any rate, most of the land that had made up the empire was brought in through his conquest. Never did he seek to stave out his own enclave, never did he think to kill for the fun of it, and he never gave up on Ikana. His men looked up to him, and in some cases, I think the king did too.

The king trusted Keeta right up until a ways into the last war. And I believe I had a role in splintering it. Some of Keeta's finest soldiers and officers were there in that city far from the capital. That city under Garo attack. When I... When... *sigh* when I killed the prince that day, I inadvertently shamed the officers, and by extension Keeta. I remember that look he gave me with agonizing clarity as I was dragged there in chains... and I see it everyday in the skull on my scythe. I...

...I'm sorry. Just too many memories came back.

So, the king lost trust in Keeta, and kept his forces in place. As punishment, he forced Keeta to let the city guarded by his men fall to the siege.

"In what they let transpire, they are worse than failures, they are traitors! This will be their execution!"

As such, many territories fell to the Garo, territories that could have been saved had Keeta been free. At the same time, I had already been cursed, so there was little help I could offer. Finally he was released and sent in the suicidal final battle. And from the shame of that defeat, the guilt of failing to protect his men, and failing the king, he was trapped there on the hill. Trapped there with all of the other ghosts, watching them fight a war that had already ended.


End file.
